Corporations have no problem establishing an identity in the online world: where they have a problem is maintaining a believable “corporate personality” that helps moderate the ups and downs of public perception and criticism in such a responsive and rapid environment.

At the moment, corporations cheat in their outward communications. Their real world and online brand identity is well established through advertising, marketing and community outreach. If you believe you are dealing with a responsive and responsible organization, that’s likely the result of extensive planning - detailed call scripts, employee communications manuals, automated responses to online contact forms, and regular refresher meetings for salespeople and marketers.

Any perception of personality or individuality from a corporation usually flows from an oversized personality in the C-Suite. Traditionally, the arrival of a new voice in the executive offices has meant a breath of fresh air throughout the organization. Mandates are renewed, clear and action-oriented visions are developed, and employees are (hopefully) energized. If the new executive is also a strong communicator, their arrival can improve perception of the company’s products, performance and staff in financial markets and in the marketplace.

The work of that executive as a spokesperson and corporate representative doesn’t equal a corporate personality, however. When a strong communicator leaves (Jack Welch) or is forced out (Robert Nardelli), the corporation’s public identity is often weakened despite their work.

These are the corporations that receive a mixed reception from customers - both online and in the real world. Michael Dell may be a personable and well-spoken executive, but it’s obvious that his customer care staff have irritated some influential bloggers. Local consumer reporters can find no end of dissatisfied customers with a gripe against regional and national telephone, cable, utilitiy, airline or electronics firms.

The key to a consistent and reliable online identity - one that will weather trashings in online forums and sniping from bloggers, an identity that will instinctively know how to deal with negative comment threads and critical YouTube CGM - is a corporation that has worked hard to build a corporate personality to help guide every employee in the organization.

This means all the units in a corporation that touch the customer or the outside world have learned to listen, speak and act with a common personality.

This doesn’t mean homogeneous messaging, strict protocols or highly controlled communications. Instead, it means a workforce that has been trained to apply a common set of principles and behaviours when dealing with customers, suppliers, and stakeholders.

It’s not necessarily about the social media catchall (and trite) phrases: transparency, community, conversation. Instead, it’s about responsiveness in communications, open recognition of failings (and of successes) and the willingness to give employees free(er) rein in their area of responsibility.

Front desk managers at hotels have the ability to comp rooms or offer upgrades; phone reps can actually acknowledge that mistakes have been made with your order; managers know that they can speak about their area of expertise in public.

It’s the freedom to act in micro situations - a form of corporate behaviour that influences individuals, not organizations or communities.

It’s these individual actions that often trip up corporate attempts to play in the social media sandbox - planted comments on corporate blogs; anonymous postings on message groups; rewrites that provoke clashes with the wiki overlords; knee jerk reactions to leaked corporate videos appearing on YouTube.

It’s the sort of philosophy Herb Kelleher put in place at Southwest.

Ask yourself, as a public relations pro or a marketer: when you heard that Southwest was going to let A&E film a reality television series AT THE GATE, did you think it was utter genius or outright stupidity?

That’s the sort of corporate personality that will have to develop as CGM and social media continue to merge with “traditional” media. It’s the corporate confidence that employees are trained well enough to let it all hang out, with a camera rolling.

BTW - I stole the term “corporate personality” from Kevin Dugan, who used it on an episode of the Dallas Marketing Zoo.